So sorry, I have to say you freak me out
by planet p
Summary: Story respost! AU; Debbie is visiting Miss Parker.


**So sorry, I have to say you freak me out** by planet p

**Disclaimer** I don't own _the Pretender_ or any of its characters.

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_As with _Arrangements for the dead_, this is an edit that I took out of the story. I liked it because it had Kyle and Thomas, and Brigitte at the end, too. Not sure how to spell 'Schtriga,' I hope I got it right. I'm bad at titles, I don't think there's any need to _ask_ why._

* * *

Debbie returned to the kitchen, but Parker assured her that no help was needed, so it was back off to the lounge room. Reagan was standing with another girl when she came back into the room. She walked up to him and leant down to speak quietly in his ear. "Who is this?"

"River," Reagan replied.

River glanced at Debbie.

"Hello, River," Debbie said. "Are you a friend of Indiana?"

"River isn't Indiana's friend," Reagan said. "She's Avalon's sister. Avalon is Indiana's friend."

Debbie nodded.

"I'll be your friend," Reagan said to River, who nodded.

Debbie smiled. That was a nice thing to say. She still wasn't sure who Reagan was, though she thought it would sound rude to ask.

"Sister doesn't usually keep photographs of brother," Reagan said suddenly. "I suppose she kept it because it was part of mother and father's wedding album."

Debbie looked at him. "Parker is your sister?" she asked, realising that he must be… Jonathan… Wasn't his name Jonathan?

Reagan nodded. "Father had wanted to name me Jonathan, but then when he saw me he decided that I couldn't be Jonathan, I didn't look like a Jonathan at all. Father was upset. His own father had been a Jonathan. He told brother to fix it, and brother suggested that I be named Reagan."

Debbie frowned. _A little disturbing._

"Our names both start with the letter R," Reagan said to River, and smiled.

River smiled too.

"But Parker calls you Jonathan," Debbie said.

Reagan nodded. "I know that she means me, and I don't want to upset her, so I let her."

Debbie frowned.

"Is that a very bad thing?" Reagan asked.

"No," Debbie assured him. "But I think you should tell her your proper name. She wouldn't want to call by a name that wasn't your own, I am sure."

Reagan considered this. "Can I tell her next year?"

Debbie made a face.

Reagan blinked. He was guessing that was a _no_. "I'm scared," he said.

"There's nothing to be scared about," Debbie reassured him. "You just go up to her and tell her you have something you want to tell her, and then you tell her."

Reagan put his hands over his face, which caused River to giggle. "I'm not here."

"Jonathan?" Parker called from the hallway, stepping into the room.

Debbie stepped closer to him and took one of his hands. He had dropped them from his face.

"Why didn't you come into the kitchen to tell me you had arrived?" Parker asked. "Would you like a drink?"

"No, thank you," Reagan replied. He frowned. "I have to tell you something," he blurted suddenly. "My name's not actually Jonathan because it's actually Reagan."

Parker frowned. He had said that all very fast.

Reagan looked at the carpet. "My name is Reagan," he said at a normal pace.

Parker blinked. "I'm sorry-" She wasn't sure how to finish.

Reagan blinked, still eyeing the carpet.

Debbie sighed and smiled. "What Reagan is trying to say is that he is Jonathan," she said, smiling too much.

Parker frowned. "What?"

Reagan lifted his chin quickly and nodded.

"Is Reagan a pet name?" Parker asked, pronouncing the _ee_ as an _ay_ though neither Reagan nor Debbie had done so.

"Reagan is his name," Debbie answered. "His, ah, father decided that he couldn't be Jonathan because, ah-"

Reagan patted his hair.

"Because of the hair," Debbie explained. "So, now he's Reagan. Well, actually, he was always Reagan." She quickly diverted her eyes to the wall behind Parker.

Parker laughed. Reagan, however, appeared serious. She stopped laughing. "Daddy, ah- I didn't know that."

"That's okay!" Reagan piped up. He dashed over to her and hugged her.

Parker met Debbie's eyes with a worried expression. Debbie grimaced.

* * *

River sighed heavily behind Debbie, causing her hair to brush against her ear. She frowned, realising that River wasn't quite that high, and saw that River wasn't even standing behind her. She was sitting in an armchair across the room.

"River and I will have a glass of water," Reagan said to Parker, who nodded, glancing at the little girl she assumed must be River, before exiting the room for the kitchen.

Reagan turned back to Debbie and rolled his eyes.

Debbie frowned. That wasn't a nice thing to do.

"Phew!" Reagan sighed, walking up to her.

Debbie smiled. "I think I'll go for a walk," she said to him, walking out of the room. He had seemed like an okay kid before, but she just wasn't sure now.

* * *

Debbie walked outside and walked around the house once before coming back inside. She had just wanted to give Reagan a little time without her. She wasn't sure it was a good idea being so friendly with him anymore. Still, he hadn't come outside looking for her.

She sighed. Perhaps she was just over-reacting. She would talk to Thora later, she decided. Thora was a nurse, though she was taking time off, plus, she liked children.

"Tell me about it," a man's voice said from the laundry.

Debbie frowned and stopped walking. She didn't recognise the voice.

A sniff answered.

"Damn it!" the man said, annoyed. "I know I ain't exactly mommy or Tommy, but I ain't gonna bite."

Another sniff.

"Come on, Reagan. What's wrong?"

Debbie's eyes shot to the door. What was Reagan doing alone with a strange man?

"Hey! Give us a hug, huggles!"

Debbie had had enough. She hurried to the door and pushed it open, glancing around the room, but all she saw was Reagan, sitting in one corner, face buried in his knees. "Reagan?" she said cautiously.

Reagan sniffed. "I'm okay," he said, his voice muffled by his knees.

"You don't look okay," Debbie told him.

Reagan sniffed again and lifted his face from his knees. "Can you please go away?"

Debbie stared. "Why?"

Reagan made a face.

"No." She was not going to leave until he had told her what that man had done to him. She would call Parker if she had to, on her cell phone.

"You want Pepsi?" the man's voice asked from behind Debbie.

She froze.

The man walked around her and knelt down in front of Reagan.

"Leave him alone!" Debbie shouted, though the man only ignored her.

"Pepsi is your favourite," the man reminded the little boy.

Debbie ran forward and pulled on his arm, yanking his backward, away from Reagan. "I said, 'Leave him alone!'"

"What!" The man jumped to his feet and took both of Debbie's hands. "What are you doing, girl?"

Debbie glared horribly. She wasn't going to let him hurt Reagan again.

"Who are you talking to?"

Debbie's chin snapped around to Indiana standing in the doorway.

"And who is that strange boy?"

That was when she remembered the man, and turned back to scream at him to let go of her, they had a witness now. But no man. She let her hands fall to her sides.

"No one. Go away," Reagan sniffed from his knees.

Indiana made a face. She did not like the boy. She turned on her heel and walked out, the sound of her running footsteps following her.

Debbie stared at Reagan for a long time.

"What is she?" the man asked from beside her, his brown eyes levelled on her face.

She leapt away from him.

The man frowned.

"Debbie? Reagan?" Parker's voice called to them, and Parker walked into the room. "I don't want you scaring Indiana like that again!" she scolded.

Debbie looked at her and started to shake her head. If they had scared Indiana somehow, they hadn't done it on purpose.

Reagan jumped to his feet. "It was my idea, sister. Debbie didn't have anything to do with it." He hung his head. "I apologise."

Parker frowned, turned back the way she had come, she left the room. She was not happy.

"What is she talking about!" the man burst, indignant, staring at Reagan. He started toward the door. "Hey!" he called loudly, though Parker was gone. He turned at the door and frowned. "Indiana was making up fibs. You don't have to apologise for her foul behaviour."

Reagan stared at his shoes.

"In future, if you didn't do it, you just deny it," the man told him.

"Fill me in," a second man's voice said from the door.

Debbie stared for a moment. This man she knew, and he was dead.

The first man eyed Thomas carefully.

"What?" Thomas asked.

The man nudged his chin in Debbie's direction.

"Reagan, are comfortable with this girl's presence?" Thomas asked. "If she makes you uncomfortable, you know you don't have to stay. You can just walk away."

The man stared. What was Thomas? Dim?

"What?" Thomas repeated.

The man smacked a hand to his head. "She can see you!" he said through his teeth.

Thomas turned and stared at Debbie a moment. "It's okay," he said, still watching Debbie. "Reagan, are you doing this?"

Reagan shook his head.

"Okay!" Thomas said slowly. "Kyle – take the kid and run. I'll hold her off."

Kyle grabbed Reagan's hand and sprinted to the door.

Debbie stared at Thomas, who had stepped in her way. "What's wrong with you?" she asked as though she thought him ridiculous.

"Stay back!" Thomas warned. "What?"

"What is wrong with you?" Debbie repeated lamely.

"It's you that's- You're the one with the problem!" Thomas told her.

"I don't have a problem," Debbie said. "I'm not the one who's supposed to be dead."

"Yeah, nice!" Thomas said, raising his voice and nodding.

Debbie took a step back from him.

"You think I'm gonna let you near him! Think again! No! No way!"

"Thomas, what are you saying to that girl?" a sharp female voice intervened.

"Brigitte!" Thomas looked relieved to see her.

Brigitte frowned apologetically, eyeing Debbie. "I don't know what he's said to you, but whatever it was, just ignore it," she told Debbie.

"I hid him!" Kyle informed the group, running back into the room, ready to fight if need be. He frowned, spying Brigitte. "Brig's back!"

Brigitte glared. Her name was not Brig!

"Let's see it then!" Kyle enthused. "Fight!"

Brigitte laughed momentarily. "She is not a Dementor, a Schtriga, a demon, or anything else you might care to think up! She is a young woman."

Kyle frowned.

Thomas punched him in the arm hard.

Brigitte shot them a look that said "cut it out". "Miss Broots, I apologise that you had to witness such utter stupidity, and I wouldn't hold it against you if you walked away and forgot all about this."

Debbie stared.

Kyle waved.

Thomas slapped his arm.

"She's not going," Kyle noted.

"I see that," Brigitte told him.

"Why is she not going?"

"I'm not sure."

"Ah, we're not here," Thomas interrupted, speaking to Debbie. "Bad dream."

Debbie walked out of the room. Keep walking, she told herself. Keep walking and don't stop.


End file.
